Finger Injury from climbing, Tendonosis, and Carpal Tunnel flare ups.

by Liam

Hello!

I'm a Massage Therapist and have been rock climbing since I was 5 (26 now).

For the most part my hands are doing great but i do deal with the occasional carpal tunnel flare up and the index and ring finger on my right hand still bother me from a climbing injury a couple years ago.

I've seen a lot of relief from massage and enzyme therapy and I'm wondering what you think would be a good plan to kick it's ass?

Thank you so much!

Liam

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Joshua Answers:

Hey Liam.

Climbing since your were 5? Wow. Cool.

What was the climbing injury that hurt your fingers? Impact/fall/something got torn kind of injury, or it-just-started-to-hurt kind of injury?

You put 'Tendonosis' in the title, so I'm guessing the latter, but? Say more about Tendonosis.

I'm a big fan of massage, obviously. In and of itself, massage can keep the pain and problem of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome away.

Skilled massage, meaning having the know how to effectively deal with any particular problem, can totally eradicate Carpal Tunnel and Tendonitis, when applied correctly and the client does appropriate self care at home.

I can't say about your fingers yet, as I don't know what the injury is.

It's safe to say that as a climber and massage therapist, you essentially have a chronic state of inflammation in your hands and forearms. Meaning that you constantly have pain enhancing chemical floating around causing all sorts of mischief.

I give a thumbs up to using enzymes. They're used a lot in Europe (successfully, I hear). I'm working on putting suggestions on my website for natural anti-inflammatory measures.

I like your attitude, let's kick its ass!

Not sure quite yet what 'it' is, though.

You said Carpal Tunnel, no problemo. As far as the finger issue, tell me more, tell me more.

A year ago I had a bad cycling accident and had to go to the hospital, I had lots of wounds and my left pinky finger really hurt.

I had it xrayed and they said I tore ligaments in it.

Slowly it started to get better and hurt less. A year on it still hurts. Every now and then I get a sharp pain in it.

Also it looks a bit bent, should i visit my doctor to see if they could help.

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Joshua Comments:

Hi JSadie.

If you torn ligaments (plural), then that's problematic, because you don't just heal back to as good as new.

So a year has passed etc, but your ligaments haven't necessarily healed at all (though I'm sure there's all sorts of scar tissue etc).

You could certainly go see a doctor, but you'll have to get an MRI to get any worthwhile information (don't let them just do an xray, because xrays are horrible for anything but visualizing bone fractures/breaks/etc).